Automatic brake for phonographs.



W. O. MILLS. AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR PHONOGRAPHS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, I909. 95?,570. Patented May 10, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

svwentoz W. CL MILLS. AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR PHONOGRAPHS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 1909. 957,570. Patented May 10, 1910.

Witnesses after described.

'MISIXI thereon; Fig. 2 is a fragmental plan vlew'of the same; Fig. 3 1sa fragmental a fragmental section of the record disk.

UNITED STATES WILIBER G. MILLS, OF

AUTOMATIC BRAKE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1910.

Application filed. May 28, 1909. Serial No. 498,831.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILBER C. MILLS, acitizen of the United States,residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Brakes forPhonographs, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to phonographs of the disk type and moreparticularly to an automatic brake mechanism therefor which is actuatedprimarily by the record disk acting upon the stylus of the sound box andthrough the stylus upon the sound boX carrying arm and the brakemechanism here- The object of my invention is to provide a brakemechanism which will be actuated when the record has been entirelyplayed through and which will be automatically actuated no matterwhether the record be long or short, and the invention includes in itsgeneral features, a brake mechanism attached to the sound box carryingarm and adapted as the arm moves inward to come nearer and nearer to therevolving periphery of the record supporting table and a disk recordhaving thereon a tangential groove located interiorly of the recordgrooves, which, when the record has been entirely played, will .guidethe stylus inward toward the center of the record disk and will therebycarry in the same direction the sound box arm and the brake mechanism,so as to bring it in contact with the periphery of the revolving tableand there check the speed of the machine.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof andalso to acquire a knowledge of the details of. construction, referenceis to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a side elevation of a sound reproducing machine with mybrake mechanperspeetive view of the outer end of arm 8 and the lever 13;Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmental plan view of the record disk made inaccordance with my invention; Fig. 5 is Corresponding and like parts arereferred to in the following description and indicated in all the viewsof the drawings by the same..-

reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 2 indicates the supporting casingof any form of phonograph, gramophone, or like construction, 3designating the spindle of the revolving table, and 4' the table itselfupon which the record disk 5 is supported. This record disk is of apeculiar construct-ion, to be hereafter stated. 6 designates the swingmgarm which carries the sound box 7 and which swings diametrically acrossthe disk, being moved from the circumference of the disk inward by thespiral record rooves. All this is the usual construction in t is type ofsound reproducing machines.

To the sound box carrying arm 6 isattached in any desired way atransversely extending and downwardly inclined arm '8. This arm ispreferably curved, so that its end will come immediately opposite thestylus of the sound box, as will be seen from Fig. 9 The arm at thispoint is downwa-rdly bent, as at 9, to form a housing, the' finger 13from being thrown inward beyond the oint shown in Fig. 2.

ounted upon the casing 2 beneath the rotatable table 4 is a bellcrank-shaped arm 15 which is pivoted upon a pin 16. One end of this armextends out beyond the periphery of the table 4, and this extendedportion is provided with a projecting lug 17 carrying a brake shoe,which, when the arm 15 is turned in the direction of movement of therotatable table 4, will contact with the periphery of the table and actto stop or checkits movement. A spring 19 fast at one end of a pin 20engages with the arm 15 and holds it in such position that the brakeshoe is away from the periphery of the table. A

stop 21 limits the movement of the arm. in

this direction. The lug 14 on the finger 13 is so arranged that it willcontact with the projecting end of the arm 15 when the sound box ismoved to a central position on the record. Depending from the edge ofthe table 4 either vertically downward or at an inclination to thevertical is a lug 22 which will engage with the inner extremity of thefinger 13 when the sound box has moved to its innermost position andcarried the finger 13 to its innermost position. When this occurs thefinger 13 will be turned upon its pivot by the continued rotation ofthe-lug 22 with the table and will turn the arm 15 upon its pivotbringing the brake shoe'18 into contact with the periphery of the tableand checking the movement thereof.

For the purpose of causing a positive inward movement of the sound boxwhich will bring the brake mechanism carried by the arm 8 into contactwith the periphery of the table, I provide a record disk of the formshown in Fig. 4. This disk has upon it the usual record grooves 28 whichusually surround an inner plane portion 24. 26 designates a groove whichconnects with the last of the record rooves at the termination thereofand lea s inward at a greater pitch than the record grooves and connectswith a circular groove 25. With a record of this kind, when the stylushas reached the innermost or last groove of the record grooves, it willcontact with the groove 26and will be switched off toward the center ofthe record, thus giving a quick equal inward movement of the sound box,the arm 6, the arm 8, and the mechanism carried by the arm 8, so as tobring the finger 13 inward toward the periphery of the rotatable tablewhere it may be engaged by the lug 22. After the stylus has passed alongthe groove 26 it will pass into the groove 25 and this will hold it inits innermost position until the speed of the retatable table has beenchecked. It may be remarked that in some forms of phonographs of thistype wherein it is necessary to raise the arm 6 in order to readjust thesound box, the lug 22 projects downward and outward at an inclination tothe vertical, but in those phonographs wherein the arm 6 does not haveto be raised to readjust the stylus, the lug extends directly downwardfrom the bottom of the rotatable table. My device is capable of beingadapted to either of these forms, and I do not wish to limit myself tothe use of the table having a lug of any particular shape.

It will be seen that my invention provides a means whereby the rotationof the table 4t and the record may be checked automatically withoutregard to whether the record is long or short. As soon as the end of therecord is reached, the stylus will be guided off upon the groove 26 anddraw the sound box and the brake mechanism toward the center of thetable, thus breaking the motion of the table. It will be-seen that untilthe record has finished it is impossible for the brake mechanism to act,but that when it is finished it acts immediately and automatically.

While I have shown a particular form of brake mechanism which I havefound in practice to be very satisfactor y, I do not wiih to be limitedto this, as it is obvious that other brake mechanisms operating upon thesame principle, might be used in conjunction with my record disk, andthat various modifications might be made in the details of constructionwithout interfering with the principle of my invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. In a sound-reproducing machine, the combination with a rotatablerecord support, a reproducer and a reproducer-carrying arm, of a brakeshoe mounted ad acent to the periphery of the support and movable intocontact therewith, but resiliently held out therefrom an arm engagablewith the brake shoe and moving it into contact with the record support,but normally held out of engagement with the brake shoe and a member onthe support, engageable with the arm to move. it into contact with thebrake shoe when the reproducer and reproducer-carrying arm have passedentirely across the record, to thereby force the brake shoe into contactwith the record support.

2. In a sound-reproducing machine, the combination with a rotatablerecord support having a stud projecting out therefrom, a reproducer, anda reproducer supporting arm, of a brake shoe, an arm carrying the brakeshoe and pivoted beneath the record support to turn in the direction ofmovement thereof, but having a shorter radius than the support, a springholding the arm in such position that the brake shoe is out of contactwith the record support, and means carried by the reproducer supportingarm engageable by said stop on the record support, and when so engaged,movable into engagement with the brake shoe-carrying arm to bring itinto contact with the record support.

3. In a sound reproducing machine, the combination with a rotatablerecord support,

'a reproducer, and a reproducer supporting arm, of a brakeshoe, acarrying arm therefor pivoted "to turn in the direction of.

movement of the record, but having a shorter radius than the recordsupport, and means movable by the record support for forcing the brakeshoe against the record support, when the reproducer arm has been movedto its'innermost extreme position.

4. In a sound reproducer machine, the combination with a rotatablerecord support, a reproducer and a reproducer supporting arm, of a brakeshoe, a carrying arm therefor pivoted to turn in the direction ofmovement of the record, but having a shorter radius than the same, asupport projecting from the reproducer arm, a finger pivoted to saidsupport and projecting toward the record support, said finger beingarranged to contact with. the brake shoe supporting arm when thereproducer arm has been moved to its extreme innermost position, andmeans carried by the record support adapted to'contact with said fingerand move the finger in the direction of move ment of the record supportto engage the finger with the brake shoe supporting arm and move thesaid shoe into contact with the record support.

5. .Ina sound reproducing machine, the combination with a rotatablerecord supporting table, a reproducer having a stylus engaging with thegrooves of a record, and an arm carrying said reproducer, of an armsupported at right-angles from the reproducer arm, a pivoted finger onthe extremity of said arm projecting inward toward the rotatable tablewhen the finger is engaged' by the lug thereon.

In testimony whereof I my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILBER C. MILLS. Witnesses JAMns C. HAMrsoN, MAX H. METZNER.

LL. s]

